ARM has announced availability of a rapid prototyping developer kit for the Internet of Things (IoT) market that integrates the Sprint Mobile Broadband USB 598U Modem by Sierra Wireless with the mbed microcontroller development platform, which is based on the ARM® Cortex™-M3 processor. The IoT market is set to grow exponentially, with Gartner estimating 50 billion connected devices by 2020*. The majority of these devices will be driven by connected sensors, requiring the support of a large community of developers from highly diverse industries. The devices and sensors will be used across a wide range of key industry verticals, including automotive, transportation, healthcare, utilities, retail, and energy.

Historically the creation of connected devices for such applications has involved complicated development on 8-bit microcontroller architectures with even further complexity involved when integrating a modem. The rapid prototyping developer kit from Sprint and ARM overcomes these challenges by providing a simple C++ development environment on a full 32-bit high-performance microcontroller. These open source drivers will be pre-integrated for the Sprint Mobile Broadband USB 598U Modem, allowing developers to focus on their particular project with the reassurance of a fully integrated, functional modem.

Sprint has optimized the Sprint Mobile Broadband USB 598U Modem to take advantage of the Sprint 3G CDMA EVDO Rev. A network. The energy-efficient Cortex-M3 processor provides a scalable high-performance 32-bit microcontroller required to enable easy development with standard programming using C++.

“Sprint is proud to apply our extensive open network experience to the deployment of this powerful development platform from ARM. The combination of ARM and Sprint technologies introduces a flexible, sophisticated and easy-to-use capability that we expect to be a potent catalyst for developer activity across many areas of opportunity,” said Wayne Ward, vice president-Emerging Solutions, Sprint.

“Early adopters, entrepreneurs and innovation hubs, such as the Maker ecosystem, are increasingly experimenting with solutions focused on the Internet of Things. Over the next 4-5 years this type of prototyping will facilitate an increase in the commercialization of solutions for this exciting market,” said Vincent Korstanje, vice president, segment marketing, ARM. “By enabling rapid prototyping for the Internet of Things, ARM and Sprint are able to support the genesis of this ecosystem with easy, affordable access to the latest low-power technology and high bandwidth connectivity.”